Crack the Sky!
by SilasWhitfield
Summary: There is no doubt, the boy has a gift for lightning. Mako agrees to teach Korra the secret to bending "cold fire". Meanwhile, the ragged remnants of the Equalists plot her death with reckless abandon. It will be quite a day. One shot: Violence. Check. Adult themes. Check. Makorra. Double check. R&R for justice.


A full moon glinted off the polished tiles as Mako's sock-clad feet slid silently over them. He assiduously avoided the White Lotus patrols that wandered in unpredictable circles around the grounds of the Air Temple. Although it was only 9:30 or so in the evening, air benders lived an active lifestyle and turned in early most nights, leaving Korra to entertain her guests without interruptions from noisy children. He took a left at the gardens and opened the door to what looked like a small shed. Inside was another set of doors, these set into the floor. Behind this was a flight of earthen stairs and the cellar. Mako's fingers flew across the shelves, past old rusty gardening tools, weathered pairs of gloves, and barrels of emergency rations, mostly salted pork, which looked like they were as old as the temple itself.

He found what he was looking for at the very back, tucked away on shelves that were as dank and musty as the walls. There were several small bottles, their labels completely molded away, but the wax on their corks still intact. He took one, leaving the rest and shutting both sets of doors as quietly as he could behind him on the way out. For a few moments he rested on his haunches, watching the white robed guards until a large enough gap in their patrols emerged so that he could sneak back into the dining area. His feet traced a well-worn pattern in the floor. It was crucial to avoid certain spaces on the hardwood as they would creak unnecessarily. He turned the corner onto the home stretch, the hallway that branched off into both Korra and the children's rooms.

To his mild horror he founded Jinora was not asleep as she had been when he left, but sitting on the small woven basket chair in front of the window that overlooked the shore. Any hope he had a sneaking around her was dashed when she looked up. He quickly hid the bottle behind his back and tried to act casual.

"So, you can't sleep either?" He said quietly.

The blush on her cheeks was visible even without the moonlight.

"Meelo snores really loud…"

Keeping his body between the bottle and her, he managed to sidestep like a crab back into Korra's room.

"Did you get it?" Korra asked, as soon as the door was closed.

"Of course."

She produced two small glasses from a drawer and they moved out onto the balcony where a pair of weather-beaten chairs had been set up. It was one of Mako's favorite places in the temple, and not just because it adjoined his girlfriend's room. It faced south, away from the blinding city lights in the noise. That was only the gentle pulse of the surf upon the rocks, and the occasional squawk from a gull. Mako nearly choked on his first sip. He turned, his throat smarting, to see that Korra had tears in her eyes.

"… that's some strong stuff." He managed, hoarsely,

All the same he poured them both another shot. This one went down a little more smoothly, a cascade of warmth that spread out from his stomach to bring a new life to his extremities.

"Now if only we had some fireworks…" Korra mused.

"I didn't find any of those in the cellar. If they were as old as this sake I doubt they'd still work anyway." He said, "but I happen to have the next best thing."

Mako stood up and turned left, so he was facing Korra. He placed his right hand across his heart, all fingers flat and facedown. In one quick movement he pulled it across his chest and extended it toward the distant horizon, clenching all but two fingers. A bolt of ghostly blue light, rather like St. Elmo's fire, emerged from his fingertips and zip away, rapidly disappearing into the gathering clouds.

Korra blew a raspberry.

"Phbbt! What was that? Weak!"

No sooner had the words left her mouth then a town of lightning reached down and made contact with the ocean just a few miles away. Korra jump straight out of her chair and into Mako's arms when the deep, rolling thunder reached them less than a second later.

"Holy crap!"

"I'm sorry, you were saying something about weak?"

"Oh hush-" Korra said, climbing out of Mako's chair and returning to her own. "You surprised me, that's all. You have to teach me that trick someday."

"How about tomorrow?" Mako said, pouring them both another glassful. "We can go out to the countryside, make a day of it."

"Do you think we should let the White Lotus know?"

"What for? They already know plenty about us. That poor new guy nearly walked in on us yesterday."

Korra turned a deep shade of red at the memory.

"I guess we can leave them in the dark, just this once…"

Tenzin and Pema were out for the weekend, taking a much deserved holiday now that the flames of war had subsided.

_Subsided, but not died out entirely, _Mako thought. _The embers of resentment are still smoldering just underneath the surface, waiting to reemerge._

"It's safer out there than it is in the city." Mako said.

He downed his shot quickly, seeing that Korra was already on her fifth.

"I remember the times me and Bolin ran out of money and had to go out into the wilderness to find food."

"Did that happen a lot?"

"Three times. Twice when we were small, and once just two years before you got here. The last time was the worst."

"Why, what happened?" Korra asked.

"It's not so much what happened out there, it's what happened when we got back. Before that day I had done one of two things to support us: doing legit jobs, and nicking things that we absolutely needed, like food or clothing. When we came in from the cold, I vowed it would be my last time. The triads took us in. They sheltered, clothed and fed us. They weren't just the thugs you see in the Saturday matinee, they were our family."

"They made you steal, didn't they?"

Mako nodded.

"At first it was just white collar stuff, cooking the books, money laundering, insurance fraud. Then they wanted us to do bigger jobs. Extortion. Burglary. Safe cracking. I could see where the path was taking us, so I quit. That was around when we started doing pro-bending full-time. Then a year later, I met you."

He smiled.

"…and everything changed."

There was a long silence. Mako held up the bottle.

"You have the stomach for any more of this?"

Korra shook her head. They sat there for a little longer, swimming in their own heads. When they got up they both did so at the same time. The world was swaying a bit, as though they were all on board the deck of a tempest-tossed ship somewhere far out at sea. Mako walked past the bed, with the intention of getting his sleeping roll from the shelf. He was interrupted when Korra pushed him rather roughly to the bed, pinning his arms at his sides.

"Hah! Not such a dashing highway robber now, are you?"

Taking a seat directly on his lap, Korra released his arms and reached up to unfasten her shirt, before tossing this to the floor. She leaned down until they were face-to-face. He could smell the sake on her breath. The moonlight gleamed off of her bare skin. He grinned lopsidedly, and she grinned back.

"I think I know just the thing to punish your lawless ways."

"You'll never convince me that a cookie doesn't taste better when it's stolen." Mako said.

"Ooh, that sounds like a challenge..." Korra cooed, and kissed him fiercely to prevent him saying anything else.

* * *

Violet stared down at the picture of the avatar with silent fury. She was hurting. It was a dull, aching pain, deep down in her bones. Everything they had worked for was quietly falling apart. With the Equalist umbrella organization all but wiped out and Amon still missing, the separate organizing cliques and cabals had split off into their own little niches to fight the good fight on their own terms. When the dust settled, Violet had found herself holding the biggest piece in a death grip. The factory was enough to rival Sato's facilities, and it was buried deep in the hazy heart of the industrial district. Nobody was about to come knocking on their door, not when the city was still mostly in ruins. The police and army had bigger problems.

She had managed to save over a hundred of her loyal kinsmen from the long arm of the law. These were the diehards. The holdouts. The true ideologues. They were still here because, even when their greatest leader had turned out to be just another power-hungry bender, even when their army had been mostly killed or imprisoned, and their names were reviled by all, they still believed.

That, and the fact that most of them had nothing to go back to. They had organized their entire life around the cause, and in some cases had donated a large portion of their savings to it. When the avatar and her lackeys broke the revolution's back, there was nothing left to do but soldier on and die.

All because of one person.

She had such a pretty, innocent face. You would never expect that behind those ice blue eyes and cocky, innocent smile that the avatar was a monster. She had destroyed any chance they had of a better life, and reduced them to outcasts, lepers in their own city.

As if to punctuate this raw injustice, a bolt of lightning split the sky somewhere off in the distance. The noise reverberated off the hills, causing it to echo eerily. Violet stood up from the drafting table and exited the small office. She walked down the three flights of metal stairs to get down to the cold cement floor of the factory. One of the massive hanger doors was ajar, and through it she could see a team of mechanics still working furiously on one of Hiroshi Sato's walker mechs, several more of the machines standing silent in the background watching them like gargoyles.

"Hey Jax!"

A hulking water tribe man looked up from his riveting tool.

"What?"

"There's a storm on the way and it's probably going to rain, get all the sensitive stuff inside and throw tarps over the rest!

Jax nodded, and the team began throwing their tools and bits back into their respective cases. A crane swooped down and plucked the prototype from the ground, depositing it on a creaky old tram whose tracks lead back into the hanger bay. The other mechs not being worked on were covered with a large canvas slip and secured with ropes. Violet admired the menacing war machine as it rolled past.

If Hiroshi were here today, he would have been proud of the modifications being made. Just before the revolution kicked off, Violet had taken a shipment of new weapons that had been stolen by Equalist sympathizers from a state armory somewhere deep in Fire Nation territory. They were hands-down some the most lethal things she had ever encountered and they had been left behind during the uprising for that very reason.

Now that the citizenry had turned against them, however, and she no longer had anyone to report to, the restrictions on utilizing such equipment had vanished. The device was essentially a metal barrel connected to a square housing that contained a pin and a gas-recoil mechanism. It was fed with small metal cartridges that came in two parts, both clamped around a chemical charge that, when ignited, sent the offending projectile down the tube at supersonic speeds, almost like a miniature cannon.

A shadow fell over her right shoulder. She turned. It was Jax.

"How is your work coming?" She asked.

Jax wiped the sweat from his head with a towel before replying.

"The technology is still in its infancy. The feed is prone to jamming about every thousand rounds or so, and once you're out, you're out. There is no combat reloading, you have to physically get out of the chassis and load another belt into it." He said.

"I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too."

"I wonder why the metal benders didn't think of this first?" Jax mused aloud, as he was wont to do.

"Because they care about collateral damage and senseless murder." Violet said. "I don't. Whatever we need to use to take down the Avatar, that's what we'll do, consequences be damned."

* * *

Naga was snoozing gently behind him, her hot breath leaving a damp patch on his leg. Mako sat in the shade of the trees, watching Korra go through her warm-up exercises. She brought astonishing grace and flow to the harsh jabs of fire bending. She made it look almost like a dance, and her breath control was as good as any master he had seen.

At last, he couldn't help himself. He jumped to his feet and joined in, turning the dance into a spar. They circled each other like a bonded pair of swan-egrets, each deliver carefully coordinated blows that they were confident the other could avoid, block, or dissipate with fire of their own. Mako found his more defensive style under a withering assault from the avatar, who eagerly exploited his seeming hesitance. He switched tack in an instant, closing the gap between them and getting inside the radius of her arms like he had seen the air benders do in practice. Now it was almost a wrestling match, with their pirouetting arms spewing flame harmlessly on all sides, singing grass and wet tree limbs.

It ended as their wrestling often did, with flat on his back, and her standing over him, a maddening grin on her face. It was his legs. They were just a bit too lanky. Korra could swing one of hers onto his inside and with a push send him toppling over like a rotten willow tree nine times out of ten.

"You know, I think you might learn this even faster then I did." He said, getting up and brushing the grass stains off of his clothes as best he could. "The art of bending lightning takes a lot of it's inspiration from water bending. You have to have attention to form, and allow the energy to flow through your body, unobstructed. Watch me, and do as I do."

He assumed the most basic form of the style. Two fingers extended on each hand, touching as though he were praying. His arms split, and twisted in a long figure eight in opposing directions. When he brought them back to his first stance, the hair on the back of his hand stood up. Korra watched him carefully and mimic his movements.

"The motion to release the energy is simple. You just straighten the arm the energy is strongest in like so."

Mako brought his right arm out in a powerful jab, and there was a faint pop. Korra imitated this as well, but she looked puzzled.

"Energy?"

"This was the hardest part of it for me, it took me a week to understand these concepts. I will try to explain it simply to you." Mako said. "Life is the result of imbalance. If the world were perfectly ordered it would be completely homogenous, and you and I would not exist. Lightning, like life, cannot exist without imbalance. It is brought into this world by the separation of two energies that exist in perfect balance all of the time, except obviously, for thunderclouds. Lightning is the force of this energy as it moves away from the place you have gathered it and restores equilibrium."

He assumed the stance once more and slowly repeated the motions, this time adding extra loops to build up energy.

"The two elements are yin and yang. You tear at the fabric of their bonding with your fingers, and store the energy within your body. When its charge becomes too great for you to maintain… you release it!"

Mako jabbed his right hand to the sky once more and Korra covered her eyes as a blinding streak of blue-white light rent the tranquil clearing. The crack caused both of their ears to ring like temple bells on harvest day, and a flock of blue jays took off from their perches, squawking.

"Wow… can I try?"

"Go right ahead." Mako said, standing back a ways. "I gotta warn you though. The first few times are going to blow up in your face."

* * *

It was a beautiful day out, but Jax didn't have time to appreciate it. His men followed along behind him, their batons and bolas' tucked underneath their coats. They had abandoned their standard black suits, they were too high profile now, and they didn't blend in well. Not that their current appearance was any less suspicious, of course. Springtime in Republic City was either hot and muggy or pouring rain, and today was the former.

They were walking along a road that lead northeast, away from the city and towards the towering snow-capped peaks in the distance. It was the best lead they had gotten in days. Multiple confirmed sightings of the avatar and her latest boy toy heading off into the foothills. Alone. There would never be a better time.

Without warning he veered left, and off the trail. They followed the most meager of deer paths for another few hundred feet, and then emerged into an open area that had been long ago cleared of brush and foliage. A small creek ran past the logging camp and its associated dwellings. The Equalist sympathizer insignia, a small white rag with a red dot on it, flapped in the gentle breeze. He remembered when this symbol had once hung from almost every door in the city. Now it was confined to the outskirts, to bad neighborhoods and dark alleys. Life on the edges of the city was harsh and unforgiving. Jax knew this from experience; he had been forced to scratch together a living out here before he could afford to move into an actual apartment in the city. It had taken him years, and we he had finally got there, the job was given to a bender, leaving him penniless and enraged.

Then the Equalists had found him and taken him in when he needed it most. They required strong pairs of arms with steady heads in between. He had fit right in.

A young child came running out to meet them.

"Mommy, mommy! Your friends are here!"

A woman just reaching middle age emerged from one of the tents.

"Go inside Sam."

The red headed child did as he was told, and when he was gone the woman pointed.

"I saw them walking down the road not two hours ago. They went to the orchards just below the meadow."

"Thank you Myra, that's all I need to know. We won't forget this." Jax said, turning to one of the younger Equalists with him.

"Run down to the south sewer exits and tell our guy to send the prototype through immediately. If we hurry we can crash their little picnic."

* * *

For the seemed like the millionth time, Korra fell flat on her back. Mako was trying to be understanding, but he couldn't help but enjoy her misfortune, just a bit. It was relieving to know that the avatar wasn't a natural at absolutely EVERYTHING. He would never admit it, but Korra was slightly intimidating sometimes, especially when she was angry. It was like sitting next to a bomb, except that bombs didn't have short tempers.

"Argh! Why does it keep…"

"…exploding? Republic City wasn't built in a day. Patience young grasshopper."

Korra whipped around and Mako braced for a sharp retort, but none came. Then, a moment later, Mako felt it too.

Shaking. The ground was shaking.

"We are surrounded on all sides." Korra said.

"What? How-"

"Earth bending, I can feel their vibrations. They're not alone either."

Mako got up as the shaking got more insistent. It was not often that Korra's voice betrayed any hint of fear. The next second, the peace was shattered.

Over a dozen people, men and women, leapt from the bushes. They were of every race, age, and walk of life. Some tossed gas grenades, the others clutched stun batons. A bolas zipped past her and smacked a tree trunk. There was no time to plan. They spared each other one last glance, and joined the fray.

* * *

There were just too many of them. Korra sidestepped, strafing the group of adversaries that had gone after her to keep them grouped up and tripping over each other. She reached out and pulled as much water as she could from her surroundings. All the grass in the clearing turned dry and brittle in an instant, and she was granted a blob about the size of a melon. She threw it back onto the ground and froze it, clothes-lining two of her opponents as they slipped and slid toward her. Then she switched to fire.

Mako had drilled her about her discipline with fire bending since day one. He was such a sanctimonious purist, sometimes it made her want to pack him in a crate and send him to live with some ascetic monks just so he would stop prattling on about "the burden that fire benders carried". There was no time for restraint now. The fire poured from her hands and bathed her enemies left and right. Her vision had narrowed to a tunnel for some reason or other, but she couldn't stop to be concerned about it.

A stun baton whistled less than an inch from her cheek, and she dealt its owner a vicious blow across the solar plexis. He collapsed to the ground, choking and wheezing, all the breath knocked out of him. Another man tried to grab her from behind while two more came from the front, but she jumped up and kicked them both in the fork of their legs, propelling her backwards and bowling over the man behind her. She broke his grip and whipped around to deliver a swift overhand chop to his adam's apple.

The fires her bending had started in the parched grass were spreading, lapping at the forest beyond. She looked up just in time to see Mako get cracked across the face with a baton. He convulsed once, and slumped to the ground like a boned fish. Korra's scream was drowned out by the dreadful roar of the mech's engine as it broke the tree line and swiveled to face her.

A circular wall of rock blasted up from the ground and surrounded her just in time. Next thing she knew the air was filled with a deep chatter that shook the teeth in her head. Something, no, hundreds of somethings were bouncing off the rocks outside. She remained hidden, feeling the angry tears well up in her eyes. She had failed.

* * *

Jax allowed himself to feel a surge of excitement. The mech lowered it's cannon and rolled closer.

"Careful, now!" he shouted. "Don't let her get away!"

A pair of Equalists grabbed the boy and rolled him over.

"Sir, what do we do with this one?"

"Extra weight. Kill him."

At these words a piercing blue light emanated from the open top of the little fort that the coward was hiding herself in. It shot up into the sky like a searchlight beacon. He had never seen anything that bright in his whole life.

Suddenly, the weather began to change. Great dark clouds were rolling in from the sea, driven onwards by an unseasonably cold and bitter wind.

"Steady…"

The rock tepee exploded outward in all directions, taking one of their number and hurtling him back into the undergrowth. He struck a tree and lay still. The mecha tank opened up with it's autocannon, stitching the illuminated dust cloud with fire. The Equalists that were just about to slice Mako's delicate little throat open dropped their knives and rushed to help, but it was too late. The gun ran out of ammo, and it's cylinder let out a pitiful little 'clack' to announce this fact to the world.

The avatar stepped out of the dust.

Actually, she floated, but nobody was looking at her feet. They were staring at her eyes, which were now alight with a terrible, electric blue glow. The creature made a graceful figure eight with her arms and pointed, almost nonchalantly, at the mecha tank.

A brilliant bolt of lightning left her fingers and struck the prototype in it's fuel tank. The explosion knocked everyone off their feet, sending burning parts raining down into the inferno that was already consuming the clearing. Jax looked back to see some of the younger Equalists fleeing into the woods.

Rage ripped through him. The same rage he had felt when that bender, who had powers meant that he would never again have to work a day in his life, had stolen his livelihood. Before he could scream at them to come back, Korra was upon them.

* * *

"Korra."

"Korra."

Darkness.

"KORRA!"

The world filtered back to her by degrees.

She was lying on the something. It felt like grass, but crunchier. Her fingers clawed at it.

It was cold. And wet. Something was dripping on her.

When she opened her eyes she saw Mako leaning over her. A massive goose egg was already blooming above his right eye, and a mixture of blood and rainwater was dripping steadily onto her chin.

In the distance, there was the sound of thunder.

"Did… did we make it?"

Mako slid his arms around her back and held her against him, like a mother who has found a lost child.

"You did most of the work. I was taking a nap."

Despite the pain, despite the weather, despite the implications of what had just happened, Korra laughed. It hurt to do it, but she couldn't help herself.

"We should get out of here before they come back."

Through her skin, she could feel the cords in Mako's neck twisting as he surveyed the scene around them.

"I think you got them all, and the ones you missed won't be coming back for seconds."

"How did they-" she began, but felt a finger pressed against her lips.

"Let's worry about that later. For now, we should get back to the city. I knew a few people who would be interested to hear about this."

Mako scooped her up in his arms like a cat, and Korra swung her arm around his neck. High above them, the clouds continued to roll in.


End file.
